Abstract:
Any language is a highly complex communication system. To
understand the working principles of language, linguists distinguish different
components or subsystems that give shape to this complexity. However,
language is not only structurally complex. Rather than consisting of
relatively uniform and static components, language is a dynamic
communication system that is subject to different dimensions of linguistic
variation. To tackle the complexity of the dynamics of language, linguists, in
general, focus on three basic dimensions of linguistic variation: social
variation, spatial variation, temporal variation. The linguistic system varies
relative to social factors, i.e. it shapes and is shaped by different dimensions
of social organisation. In a nutshell, language varies depending on who
speaks it to whom in which context. The social variation and dynamics of
language is focused at in the field of sociolinguistics. However, societies are
themselves subject to variation and change with regard to cultural, political,
or religious orientation. Thus, it should not come as a surprise that the
language system(s) used by a generalised speech community are not static,
but that they also vary through space and time. The historical dimension of
language development and language change is the third basic dimension to
describe the dynamics of linguistic structures and their corresponding
conventions of usage. As a universal matter of fact, any language is subject
to change. Language change is often triggered by social changes. Some of
the words or phrases that came to special prominence over the past few years
or which encapsulate some significant issue form the core of this paper.
